[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
… US Afghan withdrawal, and currently has parole status. The FBI has a has a photo allegedly from his iPhone they say depicts him describing to his daughter and another child "the rewards a martyr receives in the afterlife."
For future searchability: Tawhedi, age 27, on Shartel Ave. in Oklahoma city, Oklahoma. His wife, 24, is the sister of Co-Conspirator #1, juvenile of uncertain age, who lives in Moore, OK with his parents and five other siblings.
Courtesy of Skidmark, the Daily Mail adds: |
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, told investigators after his arrest Monday that he had planned his attack to coincide with Election Day next month. He and a juvenile co-conspirator expected to die as martyrs, according to charging documents.
Tawhedi, who entered the U.S. in 2021 on a special immigrant visa, had taken steps in recent weeks to advance his attack plans, including by ordering AK-47 rifles. He liquidated his family's assets and buying one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel home to Afghanistan.
After he was arrested, the Justice Department said, Tawhedi told investigators he had planned an attack for Election Day that would target large gatherings of people.
Tawhedi was charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group, which is designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years for providing support to ISIS and 15 years for obtaining a firearm to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism.
According to the criminal complaint, Tawhedi entered the United States on September 9, 2021 on a special immigrant visa.
It said an FBI 'confidential human source' contacted Tawhedi after he recently advertised the sale of his family's personal property on Facebook. The FBI source said he needed a computer for a gun business he was starting and Tawhedi expressed interest in purchasing two AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition, according to the complaint.
On Monday, Tawhedi and the juvenile met with 'FBI assets' at a rural location in Oklahoma and purchased two AK-47 assault rifles, 10 magazines, and 500 rounds of ammunition, it said.
They were immediately arrested.
Tawhedi entered the U.S. on a special immigrant visa, a program that permits eligible Afghans who helped Americans despite great personal risk to themselves and their loved ones to apply for entry into America with their families. Eligible Afghans include interpreters for the U.S. military as well as individuals integral to the American embassy in Kabul. While the program has existed since 2009, the number of applicants skyrocketed after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
US authorities did not provide details about the co-conspirator, who is reportedly also Afghan and is A. T.'s brother-in-law, as he is a minor and therefore under special privacy protections.
In a chilling Telegram message found on Tawhedi's phone, he told an ISIS recruiter who goes by the alias Abdul Malik, "Brother, our house was sold today. We'll receive the money by the 15th of October, next month. After that, we will begin our duty, Allah willing, with the help of Allah we will get ready for the election day."
The Telegram messages detailed a plan for Tawhedi's family to leave the United States for Kabul on Oct. 17, 2024, using one-way tickets. His Google history revealed searches on how to access cameras in Washington, D.C., and which states allow permitless carry.
Tawhedid also has a history of donating to "charities" that funnel money to ISIS.
More from the press release:
According to the criminal complaint, as part of the investigation into Tawhedi, the FBI searched Tawhedi’s phone and obtained communications between Tawhedi and a person who facilitated recruitment, training, and indoctrination of persons who expressed interest in terrorist activity and who Tawhedi understood to be affiliated with ISIS. Tawhedi was also seen in a video recorded on July 20 reading to two children text that describes the rewards a martyr receives in the afterlife. Tawhedi also allegedly accessed, viewed, and saved ISIS propaganda on his iCloud and Google account, participated in pro-ISIS Telegram groups, and contributed to a charity which fronts for and funnels money to ISIS. Tawhedi came to the United States on Sept. 9, 2021, using a special immigrant visa, the FBI said in a court affidavit. During that same period, about 1,000 Afghans were relocated to Oklahoma City and thousands more across other cities in the U.S. when the Taliban took over their country.
It's unclear if Tawhedi is an Afghan refugee — though he was described that way by U.S. Sen. James Lankford in a news release — or if his entrance into the country simply coincided with the refugees.
Catholic Charities of Oklahoma City, which helped resettle Afghan refugees, has no record of him, its executive director, Patrick Raglow, said.
Tawhedi was living in an apartment on Shartel Avenue along with his wife and 1-year-old child, the FBI said. Online records show an address for him in 2022 in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Justice Department did not disclose how the alleged plot was uncovered. The FBI indicated in the affidavit its agents have been investigating since at least August.
Tawhedi arrived in the United States on September 9, 2021, and was here on a special immigrant visa, according to the affidavit. The timing coincides with a period in which thousands of Afghans fleeing their country amid the Taliban takeover were being relocated in cities across the U.S. About 1,000 Afghans were relocated in Oklahoma City.
U.S. Sen. James Lankford described him in a news release as an Afghan refugee. Catholic Charities of Oklahoma City, which helped resettle Afghan refugees, has no record of him, its executive director, Patrick Raglow, said.
Tawhedi was living in an apartment on Shartel Avenue along with his wife and 1-year-old child, the FBI said. Online records show an address for him in 2022 in Kansas City, Missouri.
His court-appointed attorney could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
His wife's brother was called a co-conspirator but not named in the affidavit because the FBI reported he is a minor. He was identified as a citizen of Afghanistan who lives with his parents at a single-family home in Moore. He entered the United States on March 27, 2018, on a special immigrant visa, according to the affidavit.
The FBI reported the two were preparing to repatriate most of their immediate family to Afghanistan. They had purchased one-way plane tickets for travel Oct. 17 from Dallas to Kabul for Tawhedi's wife and child and for the boy's mother and siblings, according to the affidavit. They also had found new homes for family pets.
The house in Moore was listed for sale in July at $230,000, according to the affidavit. It was relisted in September at $190,000 and is now under contract with a closing sale date of Oct. 15.
The Justice Department did not disclose how the alleged plot was uncovered. The FBI indicated in the affidavit its agents have been investigating since at least August.
The FBI used a longtime source in September to get the two to come to test fire guns at a rural location, according to the affidavit. At the FBI's direction, the source had first met with them to buy personal property advertised for sale on Facebook.
At a recorded Sept. 14 meeting at the rural location, the undercover FBI employee and another source posed as the first source's business partners, according to the affidavit. Tawhedi agreed then to buy the two assault rifles for $1,000 each. He also said he had shot guns "a lot" in Afghanistan.
The FBI reported the evidence against Tawhedi includes messages he sent to a facilitator of people interested in engaging in jihad. He admitted after his arrest he knew the man was affiliated with ISIS, the FBI said.
In a Sept. 25 message, he wrote his father-in-law's house had sold for $185,000 "but my father-in-law is not aware of anything," according to the affidavit.
The FBI reported Google records show Tawhedi accessed, viewed and saved ISIS propaganda. The evidence found on Google included an image of an armed militant in front of fire, smoke, rubble and the U.S. Capitol "with an ISIS flag being flown above it," according to the affidavit.
In March, he completed cryptocurrency transactions valued at at least $540 to a charity that fronts for and funnels money to ISIS, the FBI said. 
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